Perpetual Tales
by FriTik
Summary: Let's face it, the Naruto world has a lot of content to work with and no one can do it all. I present a series of unfinished stories and plot lines that are available for adoption if you so choose.
1. Index

**And so we come to another story, albeit a very, very different one!**

 **In fact this is not so much a story in of itself, as a collection of other tales and the like.**

 **Allow me to explain.**

 **Since I discovered Naruto I have had so many f**king ideas related to the series. Bloodlines and jutsu and changes in events or characters, expanding the lore, the list goes on and on.**

 **So with various stories that I never finished or just wrote to exist as a stand alone I figured why not actually do something with them rather than just leave them in my folder collecting dust?**

 **Here we have those stories now for a bit of information for you readers.**

 **Everything in here** **is up for adoption.** **Which means that all you have to do is send me a quick PM (no reviews, must be PM) and I'll send you the document and maybe some notes for it if I have them. Then I forfeit all rights to the story and it's yours to do what you want with! Also, I will be operating based on first come, first served.**

 **However,** **I may try continuing some of these myself, if this happens then the story will no longer be adoptable and will be posted as it's own fic on my account.**

 **Now that's out of the way, each story held within this collection will include, a name, a brief note where the idea came from, and in some cases, ideas for the the future of the story.**

 **Also, for the record, this has been in the works for a very long time.**

 **More chapters will be added as more ideas come to me, for now enjoy what's listed.**

 **List of chapters:**

 **Chapter 1: Index (This chapter)**

 **Chapter 2: Son of Senju**

 **Chapter 3: Time Travel Bullshit**

 **Chapter 4: Infinitely Looping**

 **Chapter 5: Orange Reaper (TBP)***

 **Chapter 6: Red Dawn Uzumaki [Sealed Away AU] (TBP)**

 **Chapter 7: Explains** _ **SO**_ **Much! (TBP)**

 **Chapter 8: Demon's Disciple (TBP)**

 **Chapter 9: Mirror Idiots [Village Idiots AU] (TBP)**

 ***TBP- To Be Posted**

 **So there will be more eventually but with the current list I got my plate full. I would provide a summary for each of them but I don't want to until they're posted.**

 **Nothing else to say really. Just enjoy!**


	2. Son of Senju

**Very AU. This one requires more "suspension of belief" than I thought fitting for a story. Which is why it's here. Also, I couldn't think of a good two word name for it other than Senju Naruto, which I know is the name for at least one other story.**

* * *

For reasons the rest of Team Seven could not begin to understand, Naruto had been extremely nervous for the entire mission.

Though to be fair there were apparently a pair of S-class missing nin who were after him for some reason the other two genin on the team did not know. Admittedly that fact kind of pissed Sasuke off considering one the missing nin was his older brother or as he preferred to call him nowadays; "That Man".

The situation was as follows: Jiraiya had planned to take Naruto on a two man mission to retrieve Tsunade of the Sannin. Unfortunately before they could leave Jiraiya had an "accident" during his ah… research (*cough* peeping *cough*). Thus they were unable to depart at the original date and Naruto was just thrown in with the rest of the genin fixing the village.

That was when Kisame and Itachi arrived in Konoha, fortunately for Naruto they ran into a number of jounin and ANBU before they could locate him. They were forced to retreat and Jiraiya had somewhat explained the situation to Naruto, that the pair were part of a group hunting down Jinchuuriki, then he had to explain what a Jinchuuriki was to Naruto who despite being one had no idea what it meant.

Kakashi, who had somehow managed to be on the other side of the village when the Akatsuki members arrived, did not get involved in the brief battle. Therefore he was not put in a genjutsu coma by Itachi's Tsukuyomi, which was pointed out by Jiraiya. Kakashi admitted he was glad that oddly specific thing did not happen.

After a bit of discussion it was decided that the rest of Team 7 would go with Naruto and Jiraiya to find Tsunade. Sakura, knowing who Tsunade was, found herself somewhat excited to meet perhaps the most powerful female ninja in history. Kakashi, understanding that he was coming along to help act as a deterrent against Akatsuki accepted the mission and then proceeded to show up only one hour late (it was rather important after all). Sasuke did not complain once about coming, we can only wonder why.

Though the way Naruto was acting got more and more distracting as the journey continued.

This came to culmination one night while they stayed at an inn. Sasuke noticed that Naruto had sneaked out of their shared room. While normally he might have ignored this fact, it wouldn't be the first time he had run off to try training on his own, the fact That Man was after his teammate for some reason, may have led him to being a tad more curious about the blonde and what That Man saw in him.

Sakura, who was rooming along and had been awake preparing for bed in a civilised place rather than a campsite on the side of the road, heard her teammates in the hall. She eventually got curious and, putting on a robe, stepped out of the room to find out what was going on.

She found Sasuke with an ear against the door to the room Jiraiya was using. It took her a second to realize that must have been where Naruto had gone to. She was about to question Sasuke but he quickly made a shushing motion before a sound could leave her mouth. Not to be deterred she still sent a question look at him. He just sighed silently and gesture for her to listen in.

...going to kill me!" Naruto was saying. She blinked in surprise. Sure she knew there were dangerous people after them but Naruto had never been one to be brought down by something so simple. Maybe he actually was scared and was just putting up a brave face. Kami knows how she would deal with S-class ninja after her head for whatever reason. "I'm going to be dead and you're going to be dead and then we're…"

"Dammit gaki, calm the hell down." Jiraiya finally growled at him before he could get into a proper rant.

"Why? What is there to be calm about!?" Naruto complained. "She's going to kill me for going and then kill you for helping me!"

This confused both Sasuke and Sakura. As far as either of them knew their weren't anyone of the female gender after them. Although they were going to find Tsunade to ask her about becoming Hokage, but what reason would she have to kill them?

Unfortunately any further listening was prevented by a certain cyclopes.

"Hello my cute little students. Shouldn't you be in bed?" Kakashi asked pleasantly causing both Sasuke and Sakura to jump and slowly turn towards him.

"Sensei! We were just-" Sakura started but Sasuke cut her off before she could dig them into a hole.

"We were just going." Sasuke grabbed her arm and dragged her off causing her to blush at the contact with her crush, especially considering he was dragging her off somewhere. Not quite how she imagined it, there had been a lot more bridal style carrying and flower petals and sunsets, but who was she to look a gift horse in the mouth?

The illusion was shattered when he left her at her room though. A sliver of hope shined through the cracks when he spoke however.

"It's just the dobe being the dobe, whatever's wrong with him, we'll either find out tomorrow or he'll be over it. Get some rest." Well it wasn't a confession of love, but she hadn't really been expecting that. At least he payed more attention to her now than he ever did at the academy. Bonus was that Naruto hadn't asked her on a date since the end of the Chunin exams. Maybe he was finally getting the message that she wasn't interested?

Still, they were still teammates and his recent reactions had been slightly out of character for him. Normally he faced whatever was coming at them with (perhaps foolish) bravery. So what was it that had him so frightened now?

Sasuke had similar thoughts on the blonde who he was tentatively beginning to accept as friend in his mind. The fact he was also apparently bait for "That Man" was a bonus but that had him concerned that the only reason "That Man" was after Naruto was just to try and further Sasuke's hatred for him. As if it were even possible to hate him anymore at this point.

Nevertheless, eventually all of Team Seven as well as Jiraiya were asleep. Their concerns forgotten until morning came.

* * *

 _Timeskip..._

It took the team three weeks to track down Tsunade. During which time Naruto's paranoia became more obvious and although none of the genin noticed it, Kakashi detected that Jiraiya was in a similar state, but being the seasoned ninja he was, he was able to keep his feelings hidden from all but the most perceptive.

Kakashi certainly had theories about why those two were nervous about meeting the Slug Sannin, but he did not inquire to see if he was indeed correct. Needless to say he would get his answers when they found Tsunade.

Come to think of it, finding her almost made him wish he had mentioned something so he could declare that he had "called it." This would serve the dual purposes of making him look clever as well as irritating his students. The reason he held back however, was because if he was correct than it would have been pretty stupid of him to say anything about where prying ears could listen in. Which was everywhere, considering the fact that they were worried about Akatsuki coming after them.

No Akatsuki members or other dangerous opponents approached them on the journey however. Which was honestly record breaking considering Team Seven's track record with everything above a D-Rank mission. If Kakashi did not know better he would have said that they were cursed. Wasn't the number seven supposed to be lucky?

But bad luck seemed to hunt them like a hawk unfortunately, because while the journey itself was free from peril, the destination left much to be desired.

This peril came in the form of the reunion of Tsunade and Naruto, ignoring the fact that no one had known knew each other beforehand. Save for Jiraiya and Kakashi's messed up theories that no one besides him knew about.

Their arrival at the bar where the Slug Sannin was currently drinking her pain away was not initially marked by any misfortune. This quickly changed as soon as Jiraiya decided to approach her and talk to her.

Mainly the part where she slugged him (pun intended) and sent him flying through the wall of the bar. In the commotion no one particularly noticed when Naruto decided to try and hide behind Kakashi.

Jiraiya groaned and stumbled back towards the bar. "Now Tsunade, can we just talk about-"

"The time for talking is done you old lecher." The other sannin declared with fire in her eyes. "Four years, it was supposed to be a six month trip!"

"Now listen, hime, if you could just let me-" He was cut off by another punch this time sending him to the ground.

"Don't you "hime" me. Four years with nothing but letters!" She roared and pulled the self proclaimed super pervert to his feat by his collar. "Now where is he?"

Jiraiya, deciding that if he was going down, the ship could come with him. Pointed towards Team Seven, and more importantly, Naruto trying to make himself invisible through sheer willpower, if anyone could manage it, it was not him because he was immediately spotted by the Slug Sannin.

Sasuke, who was still confused but realized the dangerous and very scary looking woman who had punched a man through a wall, was looking at Naruto, who was still futilely hiding behind Kakashi. Deciding that there was a slight chance of the blonde not being killed considering he was the target, he gave Naruto a small shove making him stumble into plain view.

Naruto, realizing this was the end glared at Sasuke in a way that let him know that he would make sure there was a special place in hell beside him waiting for the "Last Uchiha." Sasuke who felt slightly guilty but not enough to really regret it just responded with the famed Uchiha scowl.

This interaction had distracted Naruto from the current matter at hand and therefore left him vulnerable to being hefted by the front of his orange jacket and glared at by the irate blonde women.

The normally boisterous boy seemed to shrink in her arms. "Ah… hi *gulp* mom."

Needless to say, this was a shocking statement. For Team Seven anyway, Shizune, who had been rather disheveled given the recent occurrences seemed to calm down. Jiraiya just sagged with relief that he was no longer the focus of his former teammates rage. He had doubts it would last though so he was going to enjoy his last few moments of life.

Sasuke and Sakura seemed to be having trouble forming intelligible words, leaving Kakashi looking relatively unphased. The jounin took a look around the destroyed bar.

"Maa, maybe we should find somewhere a bit more… not destroyed?" He suggested as a section of the roof collapsed. Not his best quip but he would stand by it.

* * *

 _Sooner, rather than Later…_

The entire group was now crammed into a booth at a nearby restaurant, as Kakashi had made some protest agaisnt bring his innocent little students to a bar. To cause less problems he was humored in this pursuit.

The seating arrangements, were a tad awkward, with Naruto tied up with heavy duty rope and squeezed between Shizune and Tsunade. Jiraiya was sitting on the other side of the table, nursing a large bump with an ice pack. Sakura and Sasuke looked rather awkward and Kakashi was just smiling at everyone pleasantly. At least they assumed he was smiling.

"Tsunade-sama…" Sakura spoke up after several minutes of awkward silence. The Sannin turned her glower to the pink haired girl who flinched under the gaze, "Umm, sorry but why is Naruto tied up."

"Because he's grounded for the rest of his life." Tsunade said simply.

"Would be easier for me to be grounded if we had a house." Naruto muttered somewhat darkly, only half joking. Shizune hid her snickers by coughing into her hand.

"So, anyone want to explain what in Kami's name is going on." Kakashi did not ask this and said it in a completely pleasant tone. But it was clear the man wanted answers.

"What's there to explain, my idiot son ran off with my even more idiotic teammate and now he's grounded for the rest of his life." Tsunade explained in a terrifyingly calm voice.

"Yes, well I was more concerned with the fact that, _he's your son and nobody thought this was important to mention_." Kakashi pointed out.

Tsunade glared at Naruto, who held his head up. "What? I didn't want people judging me for being your son, I want them to judge me for me!"

The slug sannin's eyes slightly softened but they still had more than a little steel in them ."That's what this is? You manage to convince your perverted godfather to take you to Konoha to become a _ninja?_ All because you're going through your independant phase?"

"It's not a phase mom!" Naruto protested loudly. "I don't get why you're so angry."

"I have not seen you for _four years._ The only reason I knew you were still alive is because you kept sending letters. Angry, does not even begin to cover my emotions right now." His mother told him.

"Tsunade-sama," Shizune protested. "Maybe he just needed some time to… express himself. He's back now!"

"Yes and I'm very happy he is." Tsunade admitted, "But that doesn't mean I'm going to untie him any time soon! Speaking of which you're not friends with that Uchiha are you?" She pointed at Sasuke who huffed indignantly.

"What if I am?" Naruto questioned slowly and suspiciously.

"You are aren't you?" Tsunade lamented forlornly. "Oh your ancestors are probably rolling in their graves."

Naruto had numerous things to say about that but he bit his tongue. Now was not the time to voice all his insecurities and problems to his mother. Even if quite a large number of them concerned her and her lifestyle.

It wasn't that he didn't love his mother, or that she had an overly cruel nature, but most of his childhood consisted of going from town to town, watching his mom get drunk and them gamble away whatever money they had at the time and then work with Shizune to drag her to the next town before they pissed anyone important off and caused an international incident.

Not to mention the few times that they actually had any important meeting he was just "Tsunade's son." He wasn't super strong, he had horrible chakra control and because of that would likely never master chakra healing. He wanted to be remembered as himself, not someone else's child who wasn't as good as them.

"Can we discuss why we're actually here?" Jiraiya asked wincing as he removed the ice pack from his head. "It's kind of important."

"Really?" Tsunade asked distastefully. "Well by all means tell me what is more important the brining my son, which you basically kidnapped, back to me."

"We want you to come back and become Hokage." Kakashi announced.

"Let me get this straight, you want me to go back to the village that took the man I loved, my brother, and virtually my entire family except my son and Shizune, and lead it?" She looked like she found the entire idea hilarious and idiotic at the same time. (While Shizune was not blood related to her, she certainly counted her among her family.)

"Well if you become Hokage you'll be able to make sure Naruto never takes a mission above D-rank." Jiraiya suggested. "After all, if you don't let him return he'll be made a missing-nin."

Naruto laughed at that before looking at his mother and realizing she was taking the idea seriously.

"Wait, Mom you're not…"

"I'm thinking about it."

* * *

 **So, I guess this one needs a bit of an explanation?**

 **Well long story short back before anyone knew who Kushina was and the Yondaime's name was Kazama, some people wrote stories where Tsunade was Naruto's mother.**

 **Doesn't make much sense? Well, what if I told you, that you were absolutely correct. There really is no feasible way that this makes sense and I agree with that. Yet it still happened, occasionally still does happen but more often than not Tsunade ends up as his adopted mother in stories like that nowadays.**

 **But during my brief stint of hunting down these stories and reading them, I never got the interaction I wanted. Which was no one knowing about Tsunade being his mother and chaos ensues when they go get her to be Hokage. So following my old mantra "if you want it written right, write it yourself" I went and did just that!**

 **It still makes no sense but nevertheless I enjoyed writing it. This is as far as I got before steam ran out for this. I had a few other ideas like Neji and how fate works, as well as Naruto dealing with his Mom being his new boss. But that's all I got for now. Maybe I'll come back someday if no one else wants to try their hand at it.**


	3. Time Travel Bullshit

**Basic and fairly unoriginal premise; time travel. How and why? Because of convoluted bullshit.**

* * *

"So what you're telling me is that you three are Jounin instructors from the future who have been transported back in time due to a weird seal you found on training ground 66 that was activated when one of your Genin, who is currently missing might I add, cut himself and spilled some blood on it. You then found yourselves in the same spot in this day and age and were greeted by one Uzumaki Kushina who just so happens to be the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki as well as the last known living Uzumaki." Sarutobi Hiruzen took a deep breath and ignored his headache, "Am I missing _anything_ at all?

"You forgot the part when Kushina kidnapped Naruto who is both the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki as well as the last known living Uzumaki for our time!" the Silver haired man who called himself Hatake Kakashi smiled at him. Or at least Hiruzen assumed so, as he could not see the man's face.

Hiruzen felt the urge to slam his head into his desk. Repeatedly.

"Look Tou-s- err Hokage-sama." The man named Asuma who bore a striking resemblance to himself as well as shared the name of his youngest child started. "We're just as confused about this as you are. I mean time travel shouldn't even be possible yet I know for fact this is not a genjutsu as one of the best Genjutsu users Konoha has in our time is, well standing right here." Asuma gestured at the women who called herself Kurenai. "And she says for sure this is not a Genjutsu."

Hiruzen took a puff of his pipe before sighing and asking. "Where are your students?"

Asuma and Kurenai both glared at Kakashi who had the decency to look sheepish. "I sent them after Kushina and Naruto."

"Why?" Hiruzen asked already piecing together what two Uzumaki Jinchuuriki together could do to Konoha.

"Well Naruto's a bit of a prankster and while I didn't know Kushina at the age she is at now I do recall stories of her being a bit of a prankster." Kakashi reasoned.

"No I meant why didn't you just send a message asking for help with two Uzumaki I would have sent an ANBU black ops team…"

* * *

 _About half an hour earlier…_

"This is so weird." Sakura commented watching the blonde and the redhead go at each other.

"No, I'll be Hokage, 'ttebayo!"

"No, I'll be Hokage, 'ttebane!"

"No, I'll be Hokage, 'ttebayo!"

"No, I'll be Hokage, 'ttebane!"

"My worst nightmare come to life." Shikamaru groaned. "Not only are there two Naruto's but one is a girl and a redhead!"

"What's wrong with redheads?" Ino asked unable to hide her curiosity.

Shikamaru shivered and muttered something about tomatoes.

"Hey Kakashi is that really Kushina-sama?" Asuma asked from where he and the other two Jounin stood behind the group of genin.

"It _does_ look like her." Kakashi noted. "And sort of acts like her but I didn't know her until she was an adult."

"You're not even a real Uzumaki, your hair isn't red!" One twelve year old Uzumaki Kushina cut off her argument against the blonde.

"How do you know what Uzumaki are supposed to look like! Maybe we're supposed to be blonde and you're the one that's not real!" Naruto shot back at her.

"I knew other Uzumaki! I'm the last of the clan!"

"There was a clan?!" Naruto shouted with surprise and a number of the other genins' eyes widened.

"See I knew you weren't a real one!"

"Well I never knew my parents so maybe you're right."

"Oh…" Kushina trailed off feeling a bit guilty about bringing it up.

"Hey! I didn't mean it like that!" Naruto cut in, "I mean I don't want you to be right but you could be!"

"Hey since when does the Hokage monument have three heads?" Kiba cut in.

Everyone turned and looked at the monument while Kushina scoffed at them. "The monuments always had three heads. And mine will be the forth up there! Believe it!"

"Well this has Genjutsu written all over it." Asuma stated.

"No it's not." Kurenai denounced his assumption. "I already checked when Kushina appeared."

"Ugh." Shikamaru groaned, having heard the Jounin speaking. "Looks like it's time travel then. Troublesome."

"Hn." Sasuke grunted.

"Baka!" Ino shouted at Shikamaru. "Time travel isn't real!"

"But there are supposed to be four heads on the monument. Why? Because we've had four hokages thus far." Shino rationalized.

"Plus have you ever seen Professor Why on NNC? This kind of stuff happens all the time on that show." Kiba said.

"I still don't believe it."

As the others discussed Kushina had been scribbling on a scrap of paper going unnoticed.

"Hey blondie!" She suddenly said getting Naruto to turn towards her. When he did so she took the paper and slammed it onto his face. After a second it glowed green.

"Well good news, you really are an Uzumaki, or at least enough for the seal to work." Kushina said with a smile.

"Wait so I have a clan?" Naruto asked as he pulled the paper off his face. "COOL!"

While the two Uzumaki started to discuss the jounin were debating what to do next.

"I don't want to say time travel but if this is Kushina's training ground then it very well could be." Kakashi said.

"Why's Kushina important?" Asuma asked.

"She's an Uzumaki seal mistress, or she will be anyway." Kakashi deadpanned. "She helped the fourth hone his sealing skills."

"I don't see how that explains time travel." Kurenai noted skeptically.

"Then clearly you've never seen an Uzumaki get bored."

"So if I'm the only Uzumaki in Konoha now and you're the only Uzumaki in Konoha in the future does that mean we're related?' Kushina asked.

"Probably? I mean I've never met you." Naruto said putting a hand on his chin and thinking.

"And some guy became Yondaime and not me?" Kushina asked sounding depressed. "I must've died then because I would never give up any other way." She said with a look in her eye.

"Well the Yondaime is dead too." Naruto told her, "he died fighting the Kyuubi twelve years ago."

Kushina froze.

"The Kyuubi? You sure it wasn't the Ichibi or the Hachibi?" Kushina asked with a twinge of denial in her voice.

Naruto involuntarily winced, "Yeah, definitely the kyuubi." He glanced down quickly at his stomach. It was fast enough for most of the other rookies not to notice as they had lost interest in the conversation between the pair. But Kushina noticed and her eyes went wide while Shikamaru who was curious enough to listen in but not enough to offer any input quirked an eyebrow.

"They put it in you?" She asked.

"Wh-what? I don't know what you're talking about!" Naruto exclaimed poorly disguising the fact he knew exactly what she was talking about.

"Well they did tell me only an Uzumaki could properly hold it." She lifted her shirt slightly and showed a portion of a rather complex seal on her stomach.

Naruto's mouth comically made an O shape.

"But how did it get out!" She whisper-shouted. "They told me if I died it would take years to reform and the only other danger they mentioned was… giving… birth." She stared at Naruto.

"I don't see how that-" Naruto started.

"Troublesome." Shikamaru cut in deciding to speed things along as Kushina was staring at Naruto with a number of emotions running across her facial features. This also gained the attention of some of the other genin. He wasn't positive what they were talking about with "it getting out" but he had his suspicions.

"She's the only Uzumaki in Konoha now." He pointed at Kushina. "You're the only Uzumaki in Konoha in our time." He pointed at Naruto. "Likely enough she's your mom."

You could hear a pin drop. Also the Jounin talking.

"Okay so we go talk to the Sandaime and see if he has anything that could help us get home rather than going the long way round of waiting until the future gets here." Asuma concluded thirty seconds after the last line of text..

"Yes you did a very good job restating what we just decided to do." Kakashi told him.

"We should probably bring Kushina with us, she was the one who saw us appear." Kurenai decided and looked towards the Genin. The _eight_ Genin.

"Ah Sakura, where are Naruto and Kushina?" Kakashi asked her in a pleasant tone.

"They figured out how they were related and Kushina dragged Naruto off to go meet her friends. Something about wanting to show them her Sochi." Shikamaru explained as Sakura and a number of the other Rookie nine seemed to be completely dumbfounded.

"Oh... Well shit."

* * *

 **And that's as far as** _ **I**_ **got before I realize just how bullshit this was. This was actually written in December of 2016 so my writing style was still very much in flux. If anyone wants this I suggest using this as a skeleton and just building up from there. I have some notes for this one too, if that might be helpful.**


	4. Infinitely Looping

**There have been so many stories based around this premise. I wanted a go at it. With my owns twists.**

 **Though if you think about it the idea is a tiny bit terrifying, stuck repeating over and over again until forever comes.**

 **Off the top of my head I can only think of three other Naruto stories that did this, Chunin Exam Day being the most popular but there is one centered around Sakura (also for Chunin exams) and one around all of team seven starting when they became a team and with no end in sight!**

 **This is a bit more like the last one and second one but very different in of itself.**

 **Anyway, enjoy!**

* * *

 _Naruto:_

The first time Naruto died had been the most traumatic experience of his life that he could remember. Well up until several minutes later which had been perhaps ironic yet just as traumatizing.

He was born.

Again.

The thing that made it traumatic was he could remember this time. Kind of anyway. It had been warm and comfy at first and he had thought that if that was the afterlife he could live with it, or not as the case may be. Then there had been cold and air and there was someone screaming. Naruto couldn't exactly see anything and voices were kind of blurred and muffled so it had been kind of hard to tell.

As interesting as this was he was still kind of in shock due to the fact he had just, well, _DIED_ and everything.

It had been totally unexpected too. He had been participating in the Chunin exams with Sasuke and Sakura when he had been hit by a gust of wind then eaten by a snake. Upon freeing himself from the snake he had then returned to his teammates only to be impaled through the heart by this creepy grass genin who seemed way stronger than any genin had a right to be.

So yeah dying was painful. Good to know.

Oh and being born was terrifying. Also good to know.

A lot of confusing stuff happened after that. He was pretty sure he exchanged hands a few times, then something exploded and there was a bright yellow light then he heard a soothing voice he couldn't quite make out and then he heard roaring and fighting and explosions.

The night ended with the horrible feeling of a burning sensation of something toxic being forced through him and then he kind of just passed out.

Over the next several years it soon became apparent that he was living his life over again. Which honestly kind of sucked. Seriously, he had finally managed to get some people to stop glaring at him the first time around and then he was right back to square one.

He had no idea how it had happened but he decided to make the most of his second chance to live through his life. He also had decided early on not to tell anyone about it due to the fact they might think he was crazy.

Things were honestly going pretty great. He still had not managed to get a date with Sakura but he wasn't the dead last of the academy this time around and didn't have to do a repeat of the whole Mizuki incident due to the fact he had already passed with the Kage Bunshin. Although it was a bit awkward trying to explain how he knew the Kage Bunshin when he had never been introduced to the technique before and he _still_ couldn't do the regular Bunshin.

He was quite surprised to be on a team with Sakura and Sasuke again though. He thought the reason he been on it the first time was because he had been dead last and needed the two highest students to balance that out. Apparently there was something else going on there. He could try and figure it out later.

Things proceeded more or less the same from that point on. This time he tried harder to save Haku and Zabuza but unfortunately wasn't fast enough. So he left wave with a heavy heart despite the fact they made things better for those people, again.

Once again they went to the chunin exams and this time Naruto didn't die but Sasuke got this weird hickey thing from the grass genin that killed him the first time around.

He did not however get to finish the exams once again, or technically the exam got postponed because the village was kind of invaded by the combined forces of Oto and Suna. This was an unfortunate turn of events seeing as he had died. Again.

That creepy kid Gaara who apparently had a demon sealed inside him too had been the one to kill him this time, he was crushed inside a sphere a sand for a jutsu called Sand Coffin or something like that. Kind of hard to hear properly when his ears were full of sand. He had tried to use the summoning jutsu that the pervert guy had taught him but he didn't have the room to make the hand seals.

He was most surprised to find himself in a similar position as the last time. Once again a helpless newborn baby as chaos, death and other unpleasant things surrounded him.

Naruto was quite confused at this point but as he sat alone in the orphanage once again because the matrons didn't like him and the other kids wouldn't play with him he had a lot of time to think about his complicated situation.

The best he could tell, his life was on repeat. That meant that every time he died he would be sent right back to his birth. He couldn't help but wonder how he was going to fix that. Maybe he had to live his life to the fullest or something? Maybe if he became Hokage it would stop!

Thus began his long crusade of trying to become Hokage.

As it turned out there was a lot of stuff in the way of getting to his long sought goal.

The many, many people trying to kill him for various reasons was just the start. Politics, bureaucracy, not to mention the level of power and skill becoming leader of the village demanded.

He also came to a startling discovery through his various repeats. He didn't need to become Hokage to earn people's respect. He could do it on his own by helping people, being determined, being skilled and strong. It was amazing.

It all started with his third loop. After being kicked out of the orphanage. Again.

He had a feeling he was going to get tired of that specific trend really quickly. Actually forget that, he was already tired of it.

Naruto had decided to try a different root this time around. He had a crazy idea that might work, but he wasn't sure. After all, even though he knew the jutsu he hadn't signed the summoning contract in this loop yet.

So what would happen to him if he used the jutsu without having a predetermined contract?

Only one way to find out!

It was quite fortunate the only ANBU assigned to watching Naruto at this time were already shirking their duties, otherwise there might have been some concern about the village's jinchuuriki disappearing in a poof of smoke. It didn't happen everyday.

Naruto cried out as he unexpectedly fell into the dark. It was quite an unsettling feeling that created a lurching sensation in your stomach when the ground suddenly disappeared beneath your feet.

Tumbling into the darkness he wondered if he had messed up the jutsu somehow.

* * *

 _Sasuke:_

Sasuke's first death had been unexpected. Also rather embarrassing thinking about how obvious it should have been.

He had trained with Orochimaru for almost three years when his old teammates finally showed up again to try and bring him back to Konoha. Also two other people who he didn't recognize but he wrote them off as unimportant.

That had been his mistake.

So while he semidetached listen to Naruto ramble on he couldn't help but wonder how he hadn't been clear enough the last time they had seen each other. He _couldn't_ go back to Konoha, they were holding him back. He needed the power to kill Itachi and Konoha couldn't give it to him. Nothing else mattered. He was an avenger, he could not allow himself to have emotional attachments they would make him weak.

He had planned to tell Naruto this in no uncertain terms after making it seem like he was going to consider the offer and hopefully make his former friend figure out that there was nothing left between them when a blade impaled Naruto and went straight into his own heart.

Sasuke had not been expecting that at all.

Sakura had of course freaked out as both of them collapsed. That pale boy who was apparently his replacement had done the deed. While Naruto certainly didn't look good from what he knew about human biology the dobe would survive, the strike had avoided his vital organs.

If only he were so fortunate.

From what he could tell both Kabuto and Sakura had moved to attempt to heal him but were attacked by the ink creations of the pale boy. He heard something about how he was "a traitor" and "had to be eliminated" but it was hard to tell as the world went black.

All his hate all his anger… and he could do nothing but succumb to the embrace of death.

Then he had gone through the process of being born again. Which was the opposite of pleasant.

Discovering that he was going through his life again left him with mixed feelings and a chance.

On the one hand his clan was alive, on the other hand Itachi was also alive and pretending to be the sweet and caring older brother he once thought he knew and loved.

But that left him with a seemingly once in a lifetime opportunity. He could kill Itachi before he murdered the clan! Avenge the clan before it needed to be avenged!

He doubted he could do it the way he wanted to though. Itachi was five years older than him and there was no way a five year old could defeat a ten year old chunin. Even if he did have the skill to do so in the future having a smaller body through him off quite a bit. Not to mention he couldn't just come out and say Itachi was going to kill everyone. He had to figure out how to do it discreetly.

As it turned out his first choice worked the best. Poison.

Just a minuscule amount in Itachi's food or drink every chance he got and his brother's health soon began to decay. No one would suspect Sasuke of doing it either. He doubted he would manage to kill Itachi anytime soon at the rate he was going which frustrated him to no end but that didn't matter. If Itachi couldn't kill the clan due to his poor health then he had all the time in world to finish him off.

Then Shisui had died just like the first time. Once again his death was ruled as a suicide.

That had thrown Sasuke off. He had always assumed like everyone else that Itachi had killed Shisui to gain the Mangekyou. More to the fact Itachi, as ill as he was, seemed to be truly upset at Shisui's death. Sasuke couldn't tell if he was faking or not.

This planted the first seeds of doubt about Itachi actions in Sasuke's mind. A horrible suspicion that Itachi hadn't always been the monster that had killed the clan formed in his mind. What if he had tried to stop Shisui from committing suicide the first time and because he failed he was left with the guilt of "killing" his best friend slowly driving him mad.

The timeline didn't quite fit but it still didn't alleviate Sasuke's suspicions. He would keep up the poison of course but perhaps he would keep a closer eye on Itachi.

Then the clan had taken over Konoha. On the day after the massacre was supposed to have occurred.

Sasuke had no idea how such an event had come to pass but puzzle pieces that he had ignored or written off for something else were slowly beginning to fit into place. The tenseness of the shinobi clan members, Shisui's suicide, his parents arguments, Itachi's slaughter of the clan. It had all been revolved around a coup d'etat.

It had been so stupefying he had forgotten to keep up the poison in Itachi's food and drink allowing him to return to health. He didn't go and kill the clan though, in fact he seemed subdued and, well paranoid.

The remaining shinobi not of the Uchiha clan were either forced to conform to the new power structure or become nuke nin. The village had quickly become far weaker than it was even after the Kyuubi attack.

Then came the invasion. Sasuke supposed he should have expected it. With the village as weak as it was their old enemies took advantage of it and laid waste to the entire village. Sasuke himself was included among the dead. The last thing he remembered was Itachi stabbing the Iwa nin that had just slit his throat with a kunai.

Upon finding himself being born yet again Sasuke felt a bit lost. On the one hand, Itachi had killed the Uchiha clan in his first life. On the other hand Itachi not killing the clan led to _everyone_ dying including the clan. He would have to find a solution for that.

This time he let life go the way it had his first life. It was… nice to be able to be happy around Itachi again. He was still left wondering about the night of massacre and some of the things his brother had said. But it was clear now that Itachi had been just as lost and confused as he had felt upon realizing that the death of the clan was the way to save the most lives as the clan would die either way.

So he let life pass by and this time payed more attention to his surroundings. Noticing the tension between his clan and the village, the dissatisfaction the clan clearly felt. There had to be someway to solve this mess.

Well he had as much time as he needed, seeing as apparently whenever he died he just restarted his life. Maybe he could get away with making some emotional ties, Sasuke allowed himself to smile somewhat nostalgically as he watched the blonde boy loudly declare his desire to be Gokage.

* * *

 _Sakura:_

Sakura's first death had been her own fault. She knew and accepted that.

She had made the stupid mistake of assuming Sasuke or even Naruto would save her from the sound ninja during the invasion of Konoha.

Unfortunately they were nowhere in sight and she was no match for the larger stronger and more skilled shinobi.

Looking back at her first death she realized just how horrible things could have turned out if the Oto nin had decided to capture her rather than just kill her. She didn't have to imagine the things Orochimaru might do to her if she were captured, she had seen the results even if she had never experienced it firsthand.

Her second life was quite like the first but she worked to make sure she maintained her friendship with Ino despite their rivalry over Sasuke. She didn't want to lose her best friend again considering in her last life she had just gotten her back. It had been rocky at first sure but they had managed to keep it more friendly than violent.

Naruto was still just as much as an idiot as he had been the first time but now that she knew she was going to be on a team with him she figured she might as well learn a bit more about him and was quite displeased with what she found.

Seriously, who lets a six year old live in an old apartment by themselves? With how stupid Naruto could be it was a miracle he hadn't gotten himself killed the first time going through life. While she didn't openly associate with the blonde because he was still annoying, she did occasionally give him subtle pushes to try and keep him on the right track.

Sakura had felt somewhat whimsical while watching Sasuke's early years though. It was strange seeing him so happy and cheerful. Living through it again she was surprised to find she had actually been doing better in the academy than he had been.

Then the massacre happened and Sasuke changed.

She hadn't really thought about how different Sasuke had become the first time. He had just been… cool. Watching the change between his pre-massacre self and his post-massacre self she was having trouble acting the same way towards him.

Things proceeded relatively the same way as before, only this time she managed to die in the forest of death rather than during the invasion.

It has been a mistake on her part. She knew she was way better than she had been the first time going through life and had underestimated the Three sound genin. They had taken her seriously this time and while she was better than most other genin now, a three on one fight against three serious opponents was not a good idea.

So she found herself repeating her life yet again.

Yay.

This life was a reality check for her. In more ways than one and few of them good.

She really should have known that showing skill far above her age as a civilian with no clan to protect her would attract unwanted attention.

Root.

She wasn't even sure if her parents were still alive. A few years into the program it no longer mattered to her. Root's programming methods took away everything she thought she knew about herself and rebuilt her from the ground up to be loyal to Danzo.

Looking back on that life she sometimes wondered if it was a blessing in disguise. As miserable as it was for the first part of it, it did help her gain a new understanding of shinobi life.

Her root training erased everything she was and left an emotionless drone in its wake. She couldn't remember what her number had been, nor did she really want to remember. She didn't like thinking about it too much. All the things she had done for no reason other than she had been ordered to do so…

Ironically, her removal from the program was quite accidental. And because of Naruto of all people!

That was one Root mission she could look back on with amusement. She and her partner had been sent after Team seven on their mission to Wave to monitor the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki (Naruto) and last loyal Uchiha (Sasuke). She hadn't really noticed at the time seeing as she wasn't the point of the mission but Ami had been on the team too.

It had been during the final battle with Zabuza and Haku that Naruto had accidently discovered her and her partner. Despite or perhaps because of their Root training the pair had been unable to handle the sheer amount of killer intent Naruto was putting off in his Kyuubi enhanced form. Her partner who was younger than herself had panicked despite her training and attempted to subdue Naruto. Needless to say that was a bad idea.

Naruto in his Kyuubi induced state of course reacted poorly and lashed out at the two of them forcing them out of the trees. By now Kakashi had been about to deal with Zabuza but with nothing stopping them, the faux hunter nin got in the way of the assault, saving their master.

Then Gato showed up and pissed Zabuza off which gave Kakashi the opportunity to deal with the two numskulls who attacked a raging Jinchuuriki with no control of their biju. Suffice to say Kakashi dealt with the pair of them and rather quickly she and her partner were tied up and being inspected by Kakashi who was quickly putting facts together and not liking the answer he was coming to.

The way back to the village was kind of tense and Naruto kept trying to talk to the pair of them. Sakura couldn't really remember herself at the time but for some reason she kept getting the urge to call him a baka and punch him for his stupidity. Sasuke didn't bother with saying anything to them, though he did observe them curiously.

Kakashi dragged all of them before the Hokage and presented the man with their root masks.

So that's the story of how Root got disbanded the first time.

Kind of. It was actually a lot more complicated than that.

Apparently the Hokage _knew_ Danzo was going behind his back but considering the type of missions that Root took it worked rather well for Konoha's image that they weren't traced back to them. But officially Root was disbanded and was so by law and with all the evidence presented along with the fact that Sakura and partner had been marched through town, it was impossible to just sweep this under the rug, therefore Danzo had to go.

At the time she had done everything she could to try and defend Danzo because she was loyal to him even if she had no real reason to be. The brainwashing was part of it but the seal placed on root members also subtly affected the thought process to develop complete loyalty to Danzo and his ideal of Konoha.

After Jiraiya was recalled to remove the seals she and the other members of root were put through various kinds of therapy to help them readjust to society. She and a few others were some of the luckier ones. Her parents were, as it turned out, still alive and after several months she began to behave somewhat fittingly for society. Not many others were as lucky. There was one operative who called himself Shin who was surprisingly well adjusted, her own partner not so much.

Her partner was another girl probably three to four years younger than herself. They never found her parents and she had been in root for most of her life, not even having lived in the orphanage when she was young. She had black hair and dark eyes but the most surprising fact was what a blood test revealed. Apparently she had distant relations to the Uchiha clan. It went back a few generations but it was there, it was probably why Danzo had recruited her, to see if she would develop the sharingan. Fortunately or perhaps not so, it appeared she had not inherited the genes.

She opted to stay in the ninja force much to her parents protests and she responded that she had spent so long in this way of life she doubted that she could ever live as a civilian again. And after working up a bit of courage she also asked them if her partner could stay with them. Even in the almost entirely emotionless existence of root bonds could still form and she would feel guilty if she were to just leave the little girl who still called her senpai. They even came up with a name for her, Sumire.

Sakura found herself and other former root members reading books that were supposed to help them understand people better fortunately for her, the more she worked at it the more her repressed memories of her previous lives came out. At one point she had broken down crying when she remembered an especially happy memory of a birthday party that never happened in this world.

That had been the first time Sumire had hugged her. When asked why Sumire had just gotten a confused look and explained that one of her books said that when people close to you were upset you were supposed to hug them to make them feel better.

Sakura had taken her out for dango after that.

Naruto had sometimes visited. Apparently he felt "responsible" since he was the one that got them captured. Honestly she felt like she owed him one of those dates he had constantly asked her on. If not for him who knows how long she would have been in root. Probably until she ended up dead on a mission and restarted with her root programming still active.

That would have been a strange childhood.

That loop had ended on a poor note despite the removal of Danzo, the last thing Sakura remembered were the words "Shinra Tensei" and then nothing.

After that first loop with Sumire she would often go out of her way to find her imouto and make sure she stayed away from root. She discovered that Sumire's father had died on a mission while her mother was pregnant and then her mother had died during the birth. That had been when Danzo had gotten his greedy hands on her.

She had refused to let that happen and had gone to save her before root could grab her. Unfortunately she hadn't planned it out and had been forced to hide with a crying baby and no idea how to explain things to her parents.

Once again Naruto ended up being the one to help them. Only looking back it seemed that she ended up helping him way more than he helped her. But that wasn't a bad thing just an interesting development.

Honestly she almost hadn't recognized him when she found him. He was filthy for one and acted very differently than the Naruto she knew.

"I'm not going to hurt you!" She insisted to him as she gently rocked Sumire who had finally calmed down. She had been crying since Sakura had taken her from the hospital with a root operative hot on their tail.

"I don' believe you!" Naruto shook his head in denial and pressed himself harder against the wall. "Why wouldn' ya hurt me? Everyone else does!"

Sakura honestly couldn't beleive this was the same cheerful loud boy she had gone to the academy with and been on a team with twice so far. She had never thought about Naruto's early life nor had she met him before the academy. Meeting a scrawny, scared and apparently paranoid version of her teammate was startling.

It actually made her wonder why Danzo had never picked him up. Maybe he just never knew about him?

"Look I really won't hurt you!" She said with exasperation. She reached into the bag she had brought with her, complete with herbal remedies, kunai and diapers. She pulled out a rice ball she had been saving for later. "Here!" She tossed it to her clearly starving future teammate.

Naruto fumbled a moment but managed to catch it. He held it gingerly and observed it like it was a gift from kami. To him it probably might as well have been. He looked back at them with a hint of respect in his eyes. "You tryin' to hide?" He asked them.

"Yes!" Sakura nodded her head frantically. She had no idea how much Danzo was willing to expend to get his hands on Sumire and there was no way she was going back to root again.

Naruto had led them to a little hole in an abandoned building. She had never been in this part of Konoha before and was rather weary of it. But it looked like Naruto had been here before.

Naruto quickly scarfed down the rice ball as if it was the first time he had eaten in days and it very well could have been. They then got actual introductions out of the way so she would actually be able to use his name. The weird part though was what he started calling her.

"So why are you hidin' Sakura-sama?" He asked curiously.

Sakura barely kept herself from laughing at the honorific. Hearing it come from an admittedly adorable looking kid like Naruto had been was funnier than she thought it would be. She then made the decision that if she was adopting one teammate she could adopt another. Besides, wouldn't it be better if Naruto didn't grow up to be a loudmouth?

She had ended up dragging Naruto home with her despite his protests to the contrary. He was actually scared of being thrown out again. Not that she was going to let it happen. She owed him for saving her from root in the last repeat and helping her hide just now.

"Kaa-san, Tou-san?" Sakura called around the door the next morning as her parents ate their breakfast.

"Sakura-chan! What are you doing up so early?" Her mother asked sounding surprised. Her parents normally got up early and woke her up later. They didn't need to know she had stayed out all night.

"I was just wondering if I promised to take care of them, could I keep them?" She asked being vague on purpose and trying to sound as innocent as possible.

"Keep what?" Her father asked with suspicion.

"Oh they're adorable and they don't eat much!" She explained with enthusiasm. Actually that wasn't completely true, as it turned out both of them could eat quite a bit.

"Keep what?" Her father repeated himself with narrowed eyes.

The looks on her parents faces when they saw what she had brought home had been hilarious.

"Sakura-chan… where- I mean how-?" Her parents stumbled over their words as they stared in shock at Sumire and Naruto. She had shoved Sumire into Naruto's arms and told him not to drop her. He seemed to be doing a good job at that.

"See i toldja they wouldn' like me." Naruto murmured and tried to leave.

She quickly grabbed his collar as he attempted to walk away. "Naruto, stay." She commanded as he struggled against her grasp.

"Yes Sakura-sama." Naruto whimpered and stopped struggling.

Sumire gurgled happily and waved her pudgy baby fists at all the funny people, blissfully unaware of the oddity and discomfort of the situation.

She could tell that life was going to be an interesting one.

* * *

 **I have a few notes for this one, but not nearly enough for me to have a set plan in continuing it. I did plan for them to all end up doing the same loop somewhere down the line, but they don't know the others are there so they're constantly messing up each other's plans.**

 **Fun right?**


End file.
